Face To Face
by wafische
Summary: While on vacation on Halloween, Danny encounters a strange paranormal investigation unit of the CIA, a bizarre ghost haunting his family's residence, and the third ghosthybrid. Revised Edition. Please R&R.
1. Arrival

It was the end of October, and one of the coldest autumns New England had seen in years. Danny's dad sat at the wheel of the family van smiling. Loaded on top was just about every ghost-hunting gadget he could pack without breaking the roof of the van. He rolled down the window and took a big sniff of the air.

"Ah," he sighed, "smell that fresh clean pine. Your school picked the perfect timing for the fall vacation; Halloween! The favourite holiday of ghosts! I can't wait for a nice, relaxing ghost-hunting vacation with my family and Danny's friends!" he looked in the rear-view mirror and saw that only Danny and Sam were in the back seat, "Or friend. Why couldn't Tucker come again?"

"Ah, his parents dragged him off to some resort at the beach" Danny said.

"They're going to the beach in the fall?" this was the first Sam had heard of it. Danny shrugged.

"Well, I'd rather be at the beach in autumn than be here right now!" Jazz was not happy, "It's appalling that you are dragging these poor defenceless children," Jazz pointed to Danny and Sam, "and me on this ridiculous ghost- hunting trip! I had the tickets for a trip across the great countries of Europe, but instead, we're being dragged into the middle of nowhere!"

"Where are we going, Jack?" his wife asked.

"Simple. Where do ghosts usually appear in movies?" no one answered, "Haunted mansions off on the edge of small, old towns, that's where! And I managed to find and old abandoned mansion off on the edge of a small town within the state. I got the place dirt-cheap! I can already see the ghosts!"

"Truck!" Jack moved the van out of the way just in time.

"Sorry!"

_(He's a Phantom)  
(Danny Phantom)_

**_Yo, Danny Fenton, he was just fourteen  
When his parents built a very strange machine  
It was designed to view a world unseen_**

_(He's gonna catch 'em all cuz he's Danny Phantom)_

**_When it didn't quite work  
His folks, they just quit  
But then Danny took a look inside of it  
There was a great big flash  
Everything just changed  
His molecules got all rearranged!  
_**  
_(Phantom, Phantom)_

**_When he first woke up  
He realized  
He had snow white hair  
And glowing green eyes  
He could walk through walls,  
Disappear, and fly!  
He was much more unique than the other guy!_**

**_It was then that he knew what he had to do  
He had to stop all the ghosts  
That were coming through  
He's here to fight  
For me and YOU!  
_**  
_(He's gonna catch 'em all cuz he's Danny Phantom)  
(He's gonna catch 'em all cuz he's Danny Phantom)_

_**Gonna catch them all cuz he's** Danny Phantom_

**F**ACE TO **F**ACE

"Here we are!" Jack stopped the car at the gate, "Stately Kane Manor! Or at least it was," everyone looked up at the mansion. It was not a welcoming house by any standards. It was built in the style of scary Gothic architecture, for starters. It obviously hadn't been inhabited in years, looking at the length of the grass, the quality of the paint job, and the condition of the doors and windows. Ghosts would definitely live here. In fact, the entire town seemed to come right out of a Tim Burton film.

"Look at it," Jack was the only one who seemed to like the house, "We'll be living in the residence of an old, dead rich guy whose house is now probably infested with evil, scary ghosts!" he pulled the rope holding the stuff on top of the van, and it collapsed on top of him.

"Hooray," Jazz moaned sarcastically as she got out.

"Uh, Dad?" Danny asked, "Are you sure you bought this place? Y'know, signed all the contracts, paid the money, made the phone calls?"

"Of course I did," Jack crawled out from under the pile of junk, "Jack Fenton never forgets when it comes to anything dealing with ghosts! Why?" Sam pointed up at the building, and Jack's jaw dropped. Construction workers were taping up "Do not cross" lines across the building and sealing the doors and windows.

"Hey!" Jack shouted, marching up to them, "Who are you people and what are you doing to my property!?"

"Ah, we got a job," one of the men said, "Have this paper here saying to seal off the house. Says its property of the city."

"This house has been my autumn home/ghost-hunting site for two months," Jack pulled out his papers, "Who hired you!?"

"That would be me," a female voice with a slight french accent said. A lady who looked sort of like Danny's mom save brown, longer hair stepped out from behind one of the gargoyles on the side.

"Who are you!?" Jack marched up to her.

"Sarah Frost, from Paranormalics" she held out a badge, "This house is haunted."

"Of course it's haunted!" Jack shouted, "That's why I bought it! I am Jack Fenton, ghost hunter extraordinare! You may have read something about me in the magazine from the Society of Misunderstood Genius Scientists."

"Ah yes," Frost said after thinking for a minute, "You're the lunatic from last month's issue who's this close to getting removed from the society."

"That article by Dr. Wakeman was unauthorised," Jack said, "Now what do you think you're doing to my property?! I'm here to hunt for ghosts and prove they exist!"

"Well I'm here to make sure ghosts never harm anyone, even if it means I have to destroy each and every one of them!" Frost shouted back, "Three months ago I got permission from the mayor to seal this house off so people can't get in and ghosts can't get out!"

"So you're doing this _now_?" Sam asked.

"Lacked equipment and men," Frost said quickly, "The point is, I've had the right to do this and I'm doing it for my department! We'll stop the ghosts if it's the last thing we do!"

"You may have had permission from the mayor when this was property of the town," Jack said, "but the mayor sold it to me and I say...GET OFF MY PROPERTY!" the two looked ready to fight to the death when a white limousine pulled up. The mayor stepped out.

"Mr. Fenton," he said in a Swedish accent, "You've arrived! So soon! What is all the hubbub here? I can hear you from the town!"

"This Paranormalics officer's intruding on my property, which I bought from you."

"You want to interfere with government work!?" Frost stared at the mayor, who got nervous.

"Well, Ms. Frost does have a point," he stammered, "The government did secure the rights to this place, and although the property is no longer the town's..." Jack gave the mayor five 100-dollar bills, "As I was saying, it now belongs to Mr. Fenton. And while they are spirits, ghosts are the spirits of people who are now dead, and anything designed to kill them may be considered inhumane," he got back in the limo and drove off, counting his money. Jack grinned in a "in-your-face" kind of way at Frost, who was clearly not happy.

"You haven't seen the last of me," she said, and her men and her left. Jack turned to his family and Sam.

"Well, let's get this stuff inside," he said, pulling out the Fenton Weasel. He used it to suck all the dust out of the inside of the house. The inside looked a lot better than the outside; a nice, old-fashioned mansion.

"Wow," Jazz said, "Maybe this trip won't be a complete disaster after all."

"That's the spirit," Jack said, "And speaking of spirits, it's time begin the ghost-hunting!" he pulled out a ghost tracker.

"Ghost directly behind you," the device said.

"A-ha!" Jack whirled around. Danny was right behind him.

"Uh, it just went upstairs, Dad," Danny smiled weakly.

"A runner!" Jack charged up the stairs. Mom and Jazz began unpacking.

"Wow," Sam said, "Your dad really picked a nice place to hunt for ghosts. You really think there are any around here?" blue ectoplasmic smoke came from Danny's mouth.

"That's a yes," he said "Look around for it." they started looking. Danny headed upstairs, making sure not to be in the same room as his dad. The ectoplasmic smoke came from his mouth again as he approached one room with a closed door. He could hear noises inside. Sounded like someone was digging through boxes. Danny opened the door, but the ghost inside noticed him. Danny just barely caught him escaping through the window out of the corner of his eye. He ran over, but there was no sign of anyone or anything. Looking around a couple more times to be sure, Danny slowly headed downstairs and met up with Sam.

"Did you find anything?" she asked.

"Yeah, sorta. There was a ghost going through some stuff in one of the rooms upstairs. He got away before I could catch him and the weird thing is that he completely vanished. There's no way he got out quick enough to avoid being seen. We'd better take a look inside that room. Come on," they started upstairs when Danny's dad stopped them.

"Danny! Sam!" he said, "Glad I caught you! I need your help in setting up a temporary lab. Come on!" he grabbed them and ran off to the basement.


	2. Evening Raid

With Jack's keeping them busy setting up his lab for most of the day, Danny and Sam never had time to get upstairs and check out that room. After setting up the lab came dinner (cold waffles and canned soup), and then Danny's dad had a speech to give to the family.

"We've lasted four hours in this old mansion and have yet to find a single ghost," he began, "and the night approaches. Therefore, we must assign shifts for all of us to watch out for any paranormal activity. Bedtime is the same as it is at home, 10:00 sharp. Alarms go off at 7. Each of us therefore can have shift of," he thought for a moment, "1.8 hours. I'll take Shift 1. Maddie, you relive me. Jazz takes Shift 3, Danny takes Shift 4, and Sam has Shift 5. Keep this ghost tracker and the Fenton Thermos" he held those gadgets up, "with you and if you see anything, sound the alarm."

"What's the alarm?" Jazzed asked, extremely annoyed.

"Simple," Jack said calmly before freaking out, "Ghosts! Ghosts! **_GHOOOOOOOSTS!_** I'll be ready for 'em with the Fenton Fisher. Everybody clear on that?" everyone nodded, "Excellent!" the grandfather clock struck 10, "Maddie, set your alarm for the right time to relieve me 1.8 hours from now. I've got a ghost to find," turning serious, Jack armed himself with the Fenton Weasel, the ghost-tracker and the Fenton Fisher and moved out.

"Well, I'm beat," Jazz sighed and headed upstairs, "Danny, if you or Sam want my shift, it's yours."

---

Each bedroom in the house had two beds, two dressers, and a bathroom. By proper standards and reasoning, Jazz and Sam should have gotten one room, Danny his own room, and Jack and Maddie their own room. But as the Fentons aren't exactly a normal family, it didn't quite work out like that. Jack and Maddie got their own room, but there the conventions ended. Jazz ended up with her own room and Danny and Sam shared the other. However, Danny and Sam weren't asleep. Knowing Danny's dad, they stayed up until his shift had been over for a couple minutes.

"I think it's safe to move out now," Sam whispered.

"Yeah, but we've gotta be quiet," Danny said, "My mom's more alert than my dad. She picks up almost every single noise," going ghost, Danny grabbed Sam's arm. They both phased through the wall and remained in that state as they floated down the hallways. Unfortunately, Danny's mom happened to be upstairs at that moment with the ghost-tracker. They had to avoid her twice by quickly phasing into another room and going out of ghost form. The third time was close. Danny's mom hadn't seen them, but she'd figured out that they were always going to the next room. As soon as they had gone into the next room, the door started to open, and they had to phase through the floor and head downstairs, just barely avoiding being seen. They could tell when Danny's mom had left the room, but waited downstairs a bit before going back up.

"That was close," Sam said.

"Let's go," they headed off to the room that Danny had seen the ghost in. Once they found it and had phased in, Danny went back to normal. The room was full of gadgets and technology. There was everything from dead, broken batteries to a car engine...even the kitchen sink was there.

"Well I think it's safe to say whoever lived here liked mechanics," Sam remarked.

"And I think that ghost might have been looking for something. Look around and see if it looks like anything's missing," they started searching. There were some large, indefinitely shaped places that had no dust. Some drawers looked like they had been opened recently since the dust on the hinges was loose and partially gone.

"Well there's no way to tell what he took," Sam stood up from looking at one of the drawers, "but you're right. He was looking for something."

"Shh," Danny said. He looked nervous.

"What is it?" Sam whispered. Danny moved over to the window and peaked out. There were 30-something men dashing about the bushes and tree trunks behind the house. They were dressed in strange clothes that looked like a cross between a S.W.A.T. team and commando squad and were armed with strange guns made of the same things that Danny's parents used for their gadgetry. Some lights shining through the breaks in the bushes and tree branches showed that there were cars around. The men began forming irregular lines to the left or right, leaving a few feet of space between them. A familiar face walked up between the lines.

"It's that Frost lady that was giving my dad a hard time."

"What's she doing here?"

"Major?" they heard Frost say. One of the men came out and saluted.

"It's in the house, ma'am, just as we thought."

"Good. Prepare to fire," she started to walk away calmly.

"Yes ma'am. Alright, everybody stand back!" he whipped out his own gun, "Ready!"

"You don't think they have the same equipment as my dad, do you?" Danny asked.

"AIM!"

"Well..." Sam looked out the window again.

"FIRE!" every member of the squad released a blue ectoplasmic laser from their weapons. They passed through the walls and Danny and Sam barely avoided being hit by them.

"Yes," they both said together. Danny went ghost. He managed to dodge some more laser fire coming through the walls, but one bolt he couldn't move away from fast enough. He attempted to phase through it, but once it hit him, he was knocked upwards, hitting the ground hard and going back to normal.

"Danny!" Sam checked his pulse; he was still breathing.

"Next round!" the major shouted again. The noise woke Danny up. Going back to ghost form, he charged out the window and knocked the gun from the major's hand with a kick, sending it flying up into the room Sam was now alone in. The troops now all tried to hit Danny, who was moving from soldier to soldier knocking them out. They ended up firing blindly into their own men, but since these lasers were meant for ghosts, no one really got hurt. With it being dark and one of the privates having been stupid enough to leave their night-vision goggles at home base, Danny wasn't really having that much of a problem. The noises from the fight, however, had gotten Maddie's attention. She went off to her room.

---

Jack was sleeping peacefully with his teddy bear, talking in his sleep.

"Hmm..." he mumbled while he slumbered, "Ohyeah, niiiiice...two ghosts togo,please..." he started snoring.

"Jack!" Maddie barged in.

"Huh? Whose..." Jack slowly woke up. Realising his wife was looking at him holding a teddy bear (he only took it out once she was asleep), he quickly hid the bear under his sheets, "Yes, what is it, dear?"

"There is something going on outside!" she pointed out the window, "I think it might be..."

"Ghosts! Ghosts! **_GHOOOOOSTS!_**" Jack jumped out of bed, showing he was still dressed. He grabbed the Fenton Weasel and ran out the door (not noticing it was closed, he actually broke it down and nearly plowed over his wife.)

---

Sam watched Danny from the window with a look on her face showing pride in her best friend. This night was being won _too_ easily.

"This shouldn't take too long," she said to herself. Then she suddenly noticed a change in the room. The air seemed colder and more eerie. Turning around, she saw the ghost of a man in a blue jump suit, a shaven head, and a nasty smile.

"Hello," he said menacingly. Before he could strike, Sam dove out of the way and grabbed the gun Danny had knocked into the room. It had a ghost- tracker mounted on it that served as a targeting computer; all she had to do was pull the trigger. The ghost dodged three shots before flying through the floor. It still showed up on the tracker. Sam fired some more shots before jumping to the side in case he flew up and attacked. He was sitting right in front of her, and the signal didn't change after she fired two shots. What was he waiting for?

The ghost suddenly flew up from right under her and flew into her head. Sam dropped the gun and let out a half-moan, half scream. She couldn't see. She couldn't hear. All her senses could do was feel the terrible pain surging in her mind. Scenes started to flash before her eyes. Vague images. Painful images. Everything started to get worse. Sam began shaking, and it grew more and more violently by the second. The pain continued to surge through her mind, the worst experiences of her life beginning to turn up. There seemed to be no end in sight...and with a snap, everything stopped and an unconscious Sam got blasted out the window. Danny saw it.

"Sam!" he was about to help her when someone grabbed him from behind and used a nightstick to start choking him. Danny. Fortunately, Sam landed on a gargoyle high above ground. Seeing this, Danny ripped the nightstick away and threw the soldier over his shoulder before re-joining the fight. The ghost who attacked Sam was watching all this, grinning ear to ear. Turning away from the window, he went to one of the machines...

---

"Jazz!" Jack broke down the door to Jazz's room, abruptly waking his daughter.

"Huh? Dad! What do you think you're doing!? It's still Mom's shift!"

"GHOSTS!" Jack grabbed Jazz and started shaking her, "They're outside! We're surrounded! Danny and Sam should be able to defend themselves since they actually let me talk to them about ghosts. But you! You never listen to me! You're defenceless! Here," he handed Jazz the Fenton Fisher, "Your defence. Let's head out, Maddie!" Jack ran out again. Once they had been gone more than a few minutes, Jazz leapt out of bed and followed.

---

Since Sam had landed on the gargoyle, she got saved the longest possible fall from a window of the mansion. However, as she was still unconscious, she started to slip off the stone creature. Only a quick save by Danny kept her from a catastrophic collision with the ground.

"Sam?" Danny shook her to try and wake her up, "Sam? Are you OK? Can you hear me!?" Sam's moaning showed she was alive. She wasn't injured, but she looked more pale than Danny had ever seen her. He took her up their room and set her down on her bed before flying back to the machine room. A ghost was taking a large piece of a generator with him out the window, and Danny guessed he'd done something to Sam.

"Oh no you don't!" Danny kicked the ghost in the back and grabbed him by his collar, the generator falling towards the ground, "What have you done to my best friend!?" The ghost thought for a minute.

"Oh," he smiled nastily, "yes, that girl. She is attractive for someone her age, no?"

"I..." Danny just realised that the comment on Sam was coming from a ghost who looked like he died when he was in his 40s, "How old were you when you died?" the ghost just laughed.

"Allow me to introduce myself," he said, "Volpe. So you're a human/ghost hybrid?"

"How'd you know that?" Danny tightened his grip Volpe's collar.

"Besides the fact that you still have natural skin colour, aren't completely transparent, and are a mortal? Just a guess. That does give me an advantage, however. As you're half-human you are alive and a mortal, therefore can be killed. As for me, you will find it difficult to threaten one who's already dead. And the generator remains intact," he pointed down. Sure enough...

"What do you want?" smiling at Danny's latest comment, Volpe turned to vapour, re-materialised behind Danny, and with a kick, sent him flying down towards a tree. Some quick phasing kept Danny from injury. He was about to retaliate when a helicopter flew over the mansion and towards the cars of the commandos. From his current position, Danny could see that the cars had already driven away and left Frost standing alone. She calmly climbed into the helicopter when it got low enough and took a last glance at Danny. She motioned down with her head before going in all the way and closing the door. As the helicopter took off, Danny looked down to find a small bomb made with the same technology as the guns that the commandos used.

"Oh no," the explosion sent Danny flying towards yet another tree, and though he phased through it, he skidded a good couple feet before coming to a stop. Shaking it off, Danny slowly got off and knocked the dust off himself. He had landed on his left side pretty hard and his arm didn't feel too good, but there was no time to worry about that. The generator was gone. Danny flew around the premisis a couple times, but there was no sign of Volpe. Still suspicious, he slowly floated back inside.

Sam was twitching violently on the bed and sweating out of fear. She was breathing heavily; trapped in some kind of nightmare. Danny floated back in the room, went back to normal, and immediately went to try and wake Sam up. However, he couldn't get close enough, as she started screaming and kicking around.

"Sam!" she could hear Danny's voice in her head, but it wasn't enough to wake her up. The nightmare was getting worse.

"Sam! Sam..." Danny got past her kicking and started shaking her gently, "_Sam!_" she finally woke up, panting heavily and still shaking. She tried talking, but it couldn't come out right.

"Just relax," Danny put his hand on her shoulder and moved some hair out of her eyes, "You're alright. Everything's fine," she started to calm down.

"Danny!" at the sound of his dad's voice, Danny opened the door...to find Jack ready to break it down. He went running across the room and out the window.

"Danny, what is going on!?" his mom came in more naturally.

"Frost and those Paranormalics guys were out around the house," Danny was telling the truth...partially, "We got out Dad's device that makes ghost sounds and scared them off."

"Excellent work, son!" Jack had used a grappling hook to climb back in (and hit his head on the top of the window while doing it).

"You OK, Sam?" Maddie noticed how nervous Sam seemed.

"Just...a little shook up," she smiled weakly.

"Well I'm going out to inspect the premisis," Jack said, "Maddie, keep watch inside and wake Jazz when it's her shift. Well done, you two!" he ran off and Maddie closed the door. Jazz ran in right after they had left, and seeing them alright, ran back to her room, looking very agitated.

"You sure you're alright?" Danny sat down next to Sam.

"Besides the fact I almost got killed...yeah," she was being sarcastic, but she didn't sound mad at Danny for asking the obvious.

"You'd better sleep the rest of the night," Danny said, "I'll take your shift.

"No, you don't have to..."

"Sam, you need some rest."

"…Fine," she said. She _was_ exhausted. She laid down and almost immediately fell asleep. Danny set the alarm for his shift and got into bed himself.


	3. Secret Passage

"Whoa," In the morning, Danny used the video screen in the lab to call up Tucker at the Beachside Resort (in autumn). He'd just finished telling Tucker the whole story, "Is Sam alright?"

"She's fine," Danny said, "She's still pretty shook up, though. I've been trying to figure out what Volpe did to her with my dad's files but I've got nothing."

"And what about that Frost lady? Did she see you?"

"Yeah. More good news," Danny said, "and my dad's going into town to talk to her about last night."

"But what if she tells your dad about..."

"It's too late to catch up with them now. I don't even know where she lives. And I don't have time to worry about that. It was dark at night and those helicopter lights weren't pointed at me; I'm hoping she didn't see me well enough to tell who I was. They knew there was a ghost in the house, but I don't know if they were talking about me or…," the computer made a sound, "Hang on sec, Tuck. Got something on that ghost," a file opened, showing the picture of a man who looked just like Volpe.

"Roger Kenton," Danny read from the biography, "Son of inventor Robert Kane, changed to his mother's maiden name, famous for inventing...mechanical paper towel dispensers? He needed all that junk for that!?"

"Dude!" Tucker shouted, "This is so unfair! Why do I get stuck at a resort when you get to live in the old home of one of the greatest inventors ever?!" Danny wasn't convinced on that last statement, but...

"Also pursued a career in weapons," Danny continued, "at age 39, recruited by the governments of the U.S., Canada, and Britain to develop technology for the air force and was gone for three years. Upon returning, he went up to his home and never exited. Once a month large trucks with various drivers would drop off unmarked boxes. Noises came from the house at night; those close to the home said they seemed to come from either upstairs or the basement. Never seen again, house searched, no sign of body, house recently bought by lunatic ghost-hunter Jack Fenton," ignoring the remark about his dad, Danny took a look over the rest of the file. The basement...

"I'll be right back," he said to Tucker, and got up to look around. His dad's lab consisted manly of his gadgets and ectoplasmic samples thrown on portable tables. The walls of the basement were still visible. There weren't any doors save those at the top of the stairs, so Danny started feeling around the walls for a secret passageway. On the south wall of the room, a brick pressed in and a section of the wall swung inward. A tunnel was in plain view, made of a mixture of stone and metal. A thick metal tube with a seat and controls in the hollow centre was attached to cables on the "ceiling." Despite the fact that the walls showed that this place hadn't been used in years, the cables and ride were perfectly cleaned and polished.

"Someone's used this equipment recently," he said to himself. Tucker heard it.

"Danny? Find something?"

"Sure did," Danny looked around the tunnel a bit more. He didn't know what it was for, but he could find out. He ran upstairs to get some things. He took the Fenton Fisher, Fenton Thermos, and the laser that he had knocked into the house last night and threw them in his backpack. As he ran back downstairs, he stopped to get Sam. She was asleep. She had calmed down, but the pallor of her skin showed that she was still shook up from last night. He decided to let her sleep.

"Tuck?" he said when he got downstairs, "I need you to check something for me."

"Name it," he put his fingers on his keyboard.

"Try to find out about a government agency called Paranormalics. Frost works for them."

"Got it. I'll call you back this evening with the info. Good luck," the video screen closed. Danny got into the seat and tried to figure out how the controls worked. There was a gear-stick to steer with and brake and a small computer with a number keyboard. Hitting the green button on the keyboard, the computer displayed the following: 58 mph. Danny typed in "23," and the settings changed to 23 mph.

"Well that was easy to figure out," Danny said to himself. He typed in 40 mph, hit the button on top of the gear-stick, and the ride started moving along the cables. The tunnels were lighted, but looked extremely creepy, like a dried-up sewer or old oil pipeline. A couple times he passed places to turn into another tunnel, but he decided to save those for a later day. At these places, he had to stop the ride to avoid breaking anything. After about 15 minutes, the cable ended, but there was a raised platform in front of the ride. Danny went up on it and headed forward. Towards the end of the path, he could see a glow from something and the sound of tools. Hiding behind an exposed rock, he observed the scene before him. Seven men were working on some strange-looking equipment on another raised platform. This one had a stairway leading up and tunnels to the left and right. Two rides were just coming in on the left tunnel now, a large box between them made of ghost-catching technology. This drew ectoplasmic smoke from Danny's mouth. One of the workers on the platform went over to help the men on the ride.

"Steady," he said as they slowed to a stop, "Steady...alright, let's get it unloaded!" he moved to unlock two latches on the side as two other men stepped forward, dressed in body armour and armed with tridents. These tridents had tips that were designed to fire ectoplasmic lasers.

"This the one they tracked from Amity Park?"

"No, but he was snoopin' around the storage room upstairs," Danny could hear shouting in the box and a few "bewares!"

"That voice..." he said quietly to himself. The box was finally opened, and, chained up in anti-ghost chains, was...

"I am The Box Ghost!" the little nimrod shouted, "and now that I am no longer confined within that which I control, I may now use the same box which you have contained me in for my own escape!" The Box Ghost attempted to possess the box, but the stuff the box was made of combined with a headband controlling his powers prevented it, "On second thought...perhaps I have a more perilous situation at hand."

"Get him down," the pitiful ghost was dragged to the floor and secured with more anti-ghost chains.

"Step away!" everyone quickly moved back as the men with armour charged up their tridents. They held them over The Box Ghost.

"Any last words?" one of them said.

"Mother" The Box Ghost squeaked. Danny had to shield his eyes from the huge flash that followed. He could hear The Box Ghost's screaming (which, like everything else about him, had some stupidity in it) and it continued with the flash for well over a few minutes. When the glare finally died down, Danny looked up. The Box Ghost was so weak he was now completely invisible. Blue ectoplasmic smoke was visible as he wheezed for air.

"I..." he coughed, "The Box Ghost...am very grateful to be a ghost right now," he collapsed. Danny couldn't stop staring at the scene in front of him. As annoying as his enemy was, _this_...this was just...

"Take him up to Level 4" the man who had come out to meet the rides appeared to be in charge. The men in armour complied. While they were walking up, however, a ghost tracker fell out of the belt of one of these men. When it hit the ground, it was activated, and it gave off a signal...pointing right to Danny.

"Hey!" the man in charge shouted, "Who's there?" Danny took off back to his ride. He had a bad feeling that, whatever tunnel those two rides had come from, there was some way for them to cut into his tunnel. He set the speed to 70 mph and took off. Behind him, several men ran over to the two rides in the other tunnel while the leader walked up to the control room. Danny yanked the laser from his backpack and readied himself from an attack from behind. His hair almost got burned off by a laser from the front. With no time to stop, Danny turned at the upcoming turn-place and narrowly avoided getting thrown off the ride and the cables snapping.

"Note to self," he said, "Don't try that again" he held the gun up again. Now his attackers were behind him. Knowing that his weapon only worked on ghosts, and with no desire to kill anyone, Danny mainly aimed to knock their own weapons out of their hands. He didn't know if they worked on him when he wasn't in ghost-mode, but he didn't want to find out. Since both parties had to worry about steering and attempting to get back to the main tunnel, that was easier than expected. Danny managed to disarm one man, and with that distraction, he managed to break and get back to the main tunnel. He soon wished he hadn't. Three rides were coming down the main tunnel straight for him. The highest speed on the rides was 120 mph. Danny set his to that speed and took off, hanging on for dear life!

"Ah, great," he moaned; they were gaining fast. He just then got a plan. Grabbing his backpack and going ghost, he prepared for impact. On the final break point before reaching the passage, Danny refused to stop. At this speed, the ride snapped off the cable and flew apart, flinging Danny forward towards the passage back to the mansion. He phased through the wall and fell through one of his dad's tables without harming anything before phasing back to normal.

"Well," he said while getting his breath, "That didn't complicate anything."

---

"The damage blocked up the tunnel," one of the men shouted, let's get some explosive over here!"

"No need," the leader called over their earpiece communicators, "He saw nothing important, and we've got more work to do. He can't get back in. I managed to get a picture on him from the tunnel's cameras. I think Ms. Frost will want to see it. Return to Level 1" the men climbed back on their rides.


	4. Walks in the Night

Danny and Sam sat downstairs in the kitchen nervously. Danny's parents were due home any minute, and there was no way of knowing what Frost had or hadn't said about Danny. They also knew that she had been tracking Danny's ghost-signature on radar since they had left Amity Park. If she said anything, then this would be the moment of truth.

"12:45," Danny checked the clock, "Should be back soon," Sam looked at her best friend; the suspense was killing him. She put a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, parents may never understand...but they do love their kids," Danny smiled at this, but he still looked nervous. They heard the door open.

"HA!" they heard Jack shout, "We did it! We beat Frost, we beat Frost!" he started laughing and acting like an overexcited little kid.

"Dad," Danny walked over to meet them, still nervous, "things...went well?"

"Couldn't have been better, Danny!" his dad grabbed him, "Frost claimed that she was following a ghost that was in our car! Shows what she knows! Now, Frost not only owes us $10,000 for trespassing, the judge ruled that there are no grounds for her to hunt and destroy ghosts! The house is ours, as are the ghosts!"

"Great! So she didn't mention specific about the ghost that was supposed to have come with us?"

"Well she did say something about my going to regret this decision, because if I had stayed away she would've said who it was," Jack stared into space, "But the important thing is, we beat Frost! We beat Frost!" he started dancing with Maddie while Danny breathed a sigh of relief and headed upstairs with Sam.

---

"Paranormalics," as agreed, Tucker called Danny and Sam that evening on the video screens, "CIA department. Exists to 'protect all U.S. citizens from, and permanently eliminate, the threat of beings and creatures of a paranormal nature or whose origins lie within the ectoplasmic realm.'"

"Did you find anything about Frost?" Sam asked.

"Sarah Frost. Age 43. Formerly a member of the French Secret Service. Removed from office for using state funds to build ectoplasmic weapons. Now head of Paranormalics. Characteristic traits; paranoia."

"So you think that those tunnels have something to do with these guys?" Sam asked.

"It led right to their headquarters," Danny said, "Volpe was working for the air force, and I doubt he supports these guys now. They must've taken over that place when he died."

"Any idea why Frost was tracking you from Amity Park?" Tucker asked.

"Probably because I'm Public Ghost Enemy #1," Danny said resentfully, "Remember?"

"Oh yeah. Well then, I dunno why you guys are still worried. Your dad took care of that Frost lady. What can happen now?" Danny happened to have the T.V. on down in the basement. A news bulletin suddenly came up.

"We repeat, two unexplainable robberies have been committed in town," a news reporter stood by. Frost was with him, "The items stolen are $100,000 in cash, half from the bank and half from the mayor. These robberies occurred with every entrance to the room locked. Along with the police, investigations by the government agency Paranormalics have gone underway. With me now is Sarah Frost, leading director of Paranormalics. Ms. Frost, why is your department involved in such a civil case?"

Frost looked serious, but the gleam in her eyes showed this was just what she wanted, "The mysterious circumstances of these robberies have lead to the suspicion that paranormal forces may be involved. Our department has been struggling for years to raise awareness of the threat of ghosts."

"Ms. Frost, have you found any evidence supporting your claims?"

"These ectoplasmic samples were found within the safe," she held up a bag containing a glowing, blue, transparent substance, "and our technology was alerted several times to the presence of paranormal beings. We had been tracking one coming up here from Amity Park with the Fenton family."

"You think that the Fentons brought a ghost to our town?"

"Not intentionally, but from what I've read about Mr. Fenton in Dr. Wakeman's work…"

"Again, $100,000 missing, evidence points to paranormal beings. We'll return you to your regular programming and cut in as further developments present themselves," the show came back on.

"I've gotta get down there," Danny started up, "Frost is up to something."

"Are you crazy!?" Tucker shouted, "We know Frost _did_ see you; she's practically begging for you to show up!"

"She's trying to make it look like there's justifiable cause for her to hunt down ghosts in this place," Sam interrupted, "We have to do something, but..."

"But what?" Danny looked at her funny.

"I think it might be good if, just this once, we let your parents handle the ghost problems," Sam said, "If Frost can prove or get substantial evidence that a ghost was even present she'll be able to get all the power she needs, or at least the right to sue for it again."

"You want us to trust my parents with this!?" Danny shouted, "Have you forgotten that my dad is the guy who charges into everything without thinking and can't even tell I'm a ghost with all his equipment?!"

"There's your mom," silence.

"…I'll take a look down there. If I'm not back in five minutes or if another news flash shows up sooner, then you can get my _mom_ and head down to investigate. Tucker?"

"Yeah?"

"If you can, find out more about Paranormalics," Danny went ghost and flew up out of the house and down to the town. He went invisible before landing on a rooftop. Police had set up roadblocks and policemen and Paranormalics agents were moving around all over. He noticed several Paranormalics agents heading off behind a butcher shop when they were certain nobody was looking. Staying invisible, Danny followed them. Five of them were by the museum. One of them was working on the lock to the window that led to the basement, one of them was holding a small object that looked like the bomb Frost had used on Danny the other night, and three of them had mirrors. Once the lock was opened, they slowly slid down into the basement. Danny followed by phasing through the wall. The bomb was laid down in the middle of the room and set for two minutes, the one who picked the lock having de-activated the security cameras. The mirrors were laid parallel in front of a box lying on a table. Red lasers were just barely visible being refracted off the mirrors. One of the ones who had laid down the mirrors walked up and opened the box, pulling out a bag of priceless gemstones. He then pulled out an ectoplasmic laser and began firing around at random.

"OK, let's go!" they quickly left the room, taking the mirrors with them. Danny looked down at the bomb. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...

"Not again," it detonated, leaving Danny the only thing in the room that was injured. The noise, however, alerted the security guard upstairs.

"Who's down here!?" he shouted when he got through the door. His eye caught Danny, "Hold it right there!"

"Wait, I can explain..." Danny had to phase through a bullet before flying out to escape, pulling a piece of the bomb off from his shirt and putting it in his pocket. He had just managed to get outside when...

"Look!" "In the sky!" "Is it a ghost!?" random people were shouting out; Danny was no longer in invisible form. Paranormalics agents were taking two routes; half were heading into the museum, and the other half had their weapons aimed at Danny; Frost was in the former group, but not before giving Danny a look.

"This is not my day," Danny readied himself for battle.

---

Paranormalics agents were all over the basement, running tests and scanning walls for ectoplasmic samples.

"Some rare gems from a tomb in Africa are missing," the security guard who saw Danny said, "I can't believe what I saw with my own two eyes. That kid flew right up through the ceiling!"

"He was no kid," one of the men set down his scanner. The bomb had let off ectoplasmic material all over the place, and the scanner read that clearly.

"I think you and the police better leave this to our department, sergeant," Frost said slyly, "We have a ghost on our hands."

---

Danny had little trouble fighting the agents the other night as he had caught them by surprise behind a dark old mansion, but now, as this was what they were ready for, he was finding it much harder to fight. They were definitely trained commandos, while Danny, despite having fought and defeating a lot of ghosts, had never had a combat lesson in his life. He almost got fried by the lasers three times and was hit by the force of ectoplasmic bombs at least twice. Now that Frost's scans were finished, her men had come to reinforce the ones already outside.

"This is_ definitely _not my day," he barely avoided another laser before kicking the guy back into three other soldiers. He managed to fight off some more, but he was too outnumbered to win a fight like this. He retreated to catch his breath and make a strategy. It happened that the place he stopped to rest was right where Frost was standing.

"Admiring your handiwork?" Danny asked grimly.

"Danny, you should be more grateful," she smiled mockingly, "I did keep your little secret to myself when your dad was arguing with me. I never imagined the ghost terrorising Amity Park would be his son!"

"And now you can't admit defeat so you're setting it up to look like the town's haunted."

"I'd like to thank you for helping me with that," Danny looked down in shame at this comment, "You don't really think you can stop me, do you?"

"I can try," an explosion interrupted the conversation.

"Ms. Frost!" someone shouted, "We've got another gh..." the voice was silenced. Volpe flew up to Frost and Danny, holding all of Frost's ectoplasmic samples.

"It seems we're on the same side after all, Ghost Boy," Volpe smirked, "Though you make the mistake of trusting humans like that foolish girl."

"That girl is my best friend, and..." Danny noticed that Frost had disappeared, "Oh, great! Now look what you..." Volpe was gone as well "...did?"

"You!" a townsperson had seen Danny and alerted the Paranormalics agents, "Freeze!" Danny made a quick retreat to the left.

---

Volpe quietly flew in the alleys of the town, the samples in his hand. A sudden punch to his face came out from a wall. A human/ghost hybrid stood over him. She was about Danny's height, with white skin, green flame-like hair flowing up, and wearing black flowing robes.

"Who are you?" Volpe asked. Instead of getting an answer, he had to dodge another punch. Their battle took them up to a rooftop. Dodging a punch, the ghost girl jumped up and kicked Volpe hard in the arm, sending the stolen samples falling to the ground where a Paranormalics agent found them. Danny was also watching the fight. Volpe was losing, and the last thing Danny needed was for Frost to get away with her plans tonight. He kicked the newest of his problems off Volpe, letting him get away.

"Hi," Danny said sarcastically to the ghost girl, "I'm Danny Phantom. And you are...?" she calmly stood up before turning into vapour, reappearing, and landing a kick right into Danny's stomach, knocking him into a fire escape on the back on an apartment, "Silent but deadly," Danny said, dazed, "Got it," he pulled himself together. The girl was just standing there calmly. Danny just stared at her in awe. Big mistake. Without warning, she suddenly showed up right in his face. Danny couldn't see what happened next. He could definitely feel that he was being hit all over. She wasn't giving him anytime to phase through her attacks. The last he saw before everything went black was his flying further and further away from her fist.

---

"Danny?" Danny started to open his eyes. He could vaguely see the concerned face of Sam, "Danny? You OK?"

"Huh...what happened?" Danny slowly sat up, holding his head. He wasn't in ghost form anymore. His parents' van was in front of him, his mom talking to a policeman. They were in an argument.

"Wait...don't tell me that..." Sam looked grim. She pointed over to a store that had a ton of T.V. monitors, all showing the news. A reporter was talking

"The readouts from the scanners, the ectoplasmic samples, eyewitness reports...all signs point to the explanation of Paranormalics; our town is haunted. Paranormalics chief Sarah Frost has identified one of three sighted ghosts as the same one that has terrorised Amity Park, which she claims followed ghost-hunter Jack Fenton on his way to the Old Kane Manor just outside of town. This raises controversy over a hearing earlier today where Paranormalics were forbidden from hunting ghosts and from taking the property of Mr. Fenton. The judge and jury will re-assemble tomorrow to re-discuss the case; for now, Mr. Fenton appears to have a mild risk of property loss."

"If you want to say 'I told you so,'" Danny said, "I wouldn't mind," Sam put a hand on his shoulder; she didn't say anything.


	5. Problems in Town

The next morning at breakfast, Jack had some things to say.

"I have some things to say," he began, "With Frost back on the offensive and with the evidence to support her claim we're in a bit of a tough spot. I've been up all night working on our defence and quite frankly, it..."

"Needs some work?" Danny asked.

"Son, it stinks! It couldn't win a case of boredom. Therefore, I'm all ears to any ideas. Though I'll have you know that I'm so frustrated that the minute I hear a bad idea that person will become the victim of my rage."

"Dad?" Jack glared angrily at Danny, "Uh...when Sam went into town with Mom last night, she found..." he fumbled through his pocket and pulled out a piece of one of the ectoplasmic bombs, "...this in the museum." Jack took it and looked it over.

"Funny," he said, "this is made with patented Fenton technology. I don't remember letting anyone know the secrets to ghost-hunting equipment."

"Right," Danny said, "but Paranormalics would have similar stuff, wouldn't they?"

"True..." Jack wasn't getting the point.

Sam cut in, "Danny and I think that maybe they set off something to leave ectoplasmic samples all over the scenes of the crimes so they could get the rights to...take over this house?" they smiled weakly.

"Oh, now you don't really think that they'd stoop that low, do you Jack?" Maddie wasn't convinced.

"Never underestimate the deception the government can pull off," Jack turned to Danny and Sam, "although with just this piece of...whatever this is, we'll have a hard time proving this at court."

"Right," Sam said, "you could postpone the trial until tomorrow. Frost still doesn't have definate proof for the case, so she might try to..."

"Put up more false evidence tonight!" Jack finished, "We can catch her in the act and have no worries about competition concerning ghosts! Good plan, kids! I can get everything in the Fenton Van working by tonight if I work all day."

"What?" Jazz looked terrified, "Don't tell me you..."

"Yes, the Fenton Van! My pride and joy and the ultimate accomplishment with Fenton Technology. Has every ghost-tracking device and every weapon against ghosts that I could install. It surpasses the RV in every way imaginable! We're still keeping the RV and I haven't been able to make the van's gadgets work yet but I can by tonight! We'll all go out, together! Maddie, to the Fenton Van!" in Adam West-type fashion, both parents took off to the vehicle.

"Nice going, Danny," Jazz was not happy, "You turned an already boring day on this horrible vacation into a disaster!" she marched upstairs.

"Wow," Danny smiled, "This might end up working out after all!"

"Yeah..." Sam didn't sound that excited. She put her hand up on her head.

"You OK?" Danny asked.

"Tired," she yawned, "You were out longer than you might think. Shouldn't we call Tucker?"

"Good idea," they headed downstairs.

---

"We told you..." Tucker said when Danny had told him about last night.

"Yeah, yeah," Danny mumbled, sinking lower in his chair.

"But we got a piece of one of those bombs and Danny's dad is taking everyone along to see if we were telling the truth. Hopefully this'll get rid of Frost."

"You OK?" Tucker asked Sam, "You look kinda tired."

"I am," she sighed, holding her head again, "No big deal,"

"So what's the deal with that crazy ghost girl?" Tucker asked.

"I dunno. We've got a paranoid government agency setting us up, we've got Volpe, and now we've got that ghost girl. All she seems to care about is attacking Volpe at any cost!"

"You think they knew each other while they were alive?" Tucker asked.

"Maybe," Sam said.

"So, did you find out any more about Paranormalics?" Danny asked.

"Besides what you already know, nothin'" Tucker typed something into his computer, "But I did find a great sale on the original line of mechanical paper towel dispensers Volpe made while he was alive. I'm gonna own a piece of history!" Sam and Danny sighed and shared a look indicating that they found Tucker's behaviour pitiful.

---

When completed, the Fenton Van didn't look too different save a dish on the roof of the car to pick up satellite signals. The inside, however, looked quite a bit different. Besides the steering wheel, nothing looked ordinary. With all the buttons, levers, monitors, and receptions, it looked like the controls for a starship. At eight o' clock p.m., the family (and Sam) headed out. It was already dark out, and the clouds were building. It was so cold that snow was in the forecast. Two of the monitors were on, one to detect ghosts, the other to detect anything made of ectoplasm (fortunately for Danny, it only applied to outside the van). Jet propulsion was installed in the car, but Jack surprisingly didn't use it. He pulled up to a street corner near the bank and stopped.

"Alright," Jack said, "we are here to catch Frost in the act. Under no circumstances, and I mean any circumstances is anyone to leave this vehicle!" the monitor for tracking ghosts suddenly went off, "Except that," Jack grabbed the Ghost Gloves and charged out of the van, Maddie close behind.

"Well, I'm outta here," Jazz opened the door and headed off to a nearby department store. Danny and Sam looked at all the controls.

"Please tell me you know something about these," Sam looked at Danny.

"Uh..." he smiled weakly, and Sam sighed.

"What a surprise," she said sarcastically, "Now we can't do anything," as she leaned forward, her elbow hit a lever and one monitor showed a news report just coming on.

"The mayor has been kidnapped!" the reporter was frantic, "Right from under the nose of security, and with everything locked and secure, the mayor was taken from his residence! Scans by Paranormalics confirm; it was a ghost! Many believe it to be one of the three ghosts spotted last night! Paranormalics chief Sarah Frost believes it to be the one from Amity Park! Will someone please give Paranormalics special ghost- hunting licence and that old mansion!?" the reporter was taken away for panicking.

"I've gotta go," Danny started to open the door.

"No! They're practically begging you to show up! They'll not only be ready to beat you again, you'll likely get 'confirmed' as the kidnapper and completely ruin our plan!"

"Well I can't just sit here! There's no point in waiting by the bank because they're trying to frame me for something worse than robbery. We can't drive and can't work the van. And if they're ready for me based on last night, I'll try a slightly different approach," grinning, Danny went ghost and left, ignoring Sam's shouting for him to get back.

"Sometimes..." Sam sighed before getting out of the van and following him. Leaving the van completely abandoned was a mistake, because a Paranormalics agent was waiting for that opportunity to place an interceptor on the satellite dish.

---

Danny went invisible and crouched down on a rooftop near the mayor's home. Paranormalics agents surrounded the place, the major up on the roof. They all were so sure Danny was coming that none of them had a ghost tracker out. Danny flew quietly over to the major, who was just now contacting Frost.

"Still no sign of him," the major sighed, "I dunno, ma'am."

"He'll be there," Danny could hear Frost say, "Check the ghost tracker," he began to pull it out. Thinking quickly, Danny flew into the major's body.

"Nope," he said without turning the thing on, "nothing on the scanners."

"Keep an eye out and call me later," Frost said.

"Yes, ma'am," Danny put the scanner away and left the major's body. The major was confused, but shrugged it off. Danny floated down inside; nothing was out of the ordinary. There was, however, a Paranormalics agent with ghost- detecting goggles and a laser ready. Readying himself for battle, Danny accidentally fired a blast of ghost energy at the agent.

"Sorry! I..." Danny looked at his opponent. He was hurt, but it wasn't nearly as bad as Danny thought. He had held back using this power because he thought it was too dangerous.

"Nighty-night," the agent collapsed, unconscious but fine.

"Well, that'll make fighting these guys easier," Danny floated back up, still invisible.

"Still no sign," the major was saying, "He's not coming, ma'am."

"He _is_ coming," she was talking loudly, "have all the men check their scanners."

"Yes ma'am," the major side, "Men! Check the ghost trackers!" Danny was now nervous. He couldn't overshadow more than one person, let alone a small army...

"Fire!" an explosion and Volpe's making off with some equipment prevented Danny's detection. Half of the men ran off after him.

"Perfect," Danny flew down to where the remaining men were. He grabbed the one right in front of him, covering his mouth and knocking him out with a blast of ghost energy. The one soldier who noticed that was hit too.

"Hey!" the major shouted, pulling out his laser. Danny knocked it out of his hand before readying himself to fight the agents. Now positive his energy blasts were non-lethal, and having taken them by surprise this time, Danny fared much better in combat. He was having no difficulty holding his own against the soldiers. Within a few minutes it was obvious he was winning the fight. He would have, too, if Volpe had not suddenly appeared, mercilessly attacking one of the soldiers whom had gone after him. Danny knocked Volpe away.

"What the heck are you doing!?" Danny shouted, "That's completely overdoing it!"

"Enemies are enemies, Ghost Boy," Volpe said defiantly, "They deserve it," he flew off, Danny close behind. He even more worries now, as the ghost girl appeared and attacked Volpe, causing a heck of a lot of property damage and waking up the whole town, the last thing needed. Danny intervened, and Volpe flew off.

"What is your..." he dodged a punch from the ghost girl, "...deal!? You're helping people who want to destroy all ghosts!"

"_Volpe!_" she shrieked.

"I don't know what your problem with him is, but I'm..." he was prevented from finishing his sentence by a kick to the face. In anger he began randomly firing energy blasts at her, two of them hitting and one actually causing some damage to her foot. His carelessness, however, had given their location away to an agent, who fired a shot. Danny attempted to avoid it, but he was hit in the left shoulder and crashed down into some old cardboard boxes. His shoulder felt like it was burning. Slowly standing up, he felt his wound. Blue ectoplasmic smoke was coming out of it, and he couldn't use his left arm much. Still, he had to find that ghost girl. He flew off, still holding his shoulder, and found her on a rooftop. They both prepared to fight. Unbeknownst to them, Frost was observing their battle from a window. She slowly took a bomb from a box and threw it up between them. It detonated, sending Danny flying towards an old abandoned apartment complex. He phased through it, crashing down on his bad arm.


	6. Painful Truths

Danny slowly stood up, holding his now even more damaged shoulder. He had to lean against a support beam. The apartment was definitely old. It was covered in dust, was falling apart, and had nothing in it except a chair. That would have been slightly odd if it was just a chair, but tied to that chair was...

"The mayor?" Danny walked over. Yes, it was the mayor, gagged, blindfolded, and utterly confused. Danny pulled the blindfold and gag off.

"Thank you!" the mayor said, "Thank you, mysterious ghost boy! And don't worry, I saw the people who kidnapped me. You don't need to worry about the Frost lady!"

"Right," Danny untied him "About Frost...I think you should know..." Volpe phased through the ceiling, followed by the ghost girl. Danny sighed, "Never mind. Get out of here, I'll take care of them," Danny charged up an energy blast and threw it at the ghost girl. Volpe took the opportunity to escape.

"Hold it!" Danny shouted, "You're not going any..." the ghost girl attacked with an energy blast of her own. It hit Danny right in the ribs, and instead of just knocking him back like his did, it burned its way into his skin. With two disabling injuries, Danny got down on his knees, ectoplasmic smoke coming from his ribs now. He could see the ghost girl was having trouble standing because of the injury to her foot, but there was more than that. She seemed like she was changing involuntarily. Here eyes stopped glowing and her skin started to become more...Caucasian-coloured, for lack of a better term. Before Danny could find out who she was, she phased through the wall. He leaned up against another support beam, coughing.

---

Jack returned to the van without his wife, who was still tracking the ghost. He had expected Jazz to leave, but not Danny and Sam.

"Probably out looking for ghosts," he said proudly, climbing into the van, "I'll just drive around looking for 'em...and a chance to catch Frost in the act!" he cracked his knuckles and prepared to start the van. But it started by itself. Not with the ignition key, but with the jet propulsion system. Down beneath the city, the same person who had been in charge of the torture of The Box Ghost sat at a control panel with a steering wheel and buttons on just about every square inch. He was controlling the car thanks to the interceptor on the satellite.

"Mr. Fenton," he said, grinning slyly, "prepare for a joyride," he hit a button and the van took off fast. Jack grabbed on to the steering wheel to keep from getting slammed back into his seat and breaking it. The van was headed straight for the department store where Jazz was, and she saw it coming.

"What the..." she ducked underneath a table as the van crashed through the glass and began driving around in circles around the room. Jack rolled down the window.

"Dad!" Jazz shouted, "What in the heck are you doing!?"

"It's not me!" lacking time to get his seat-belt on, Jack had to hang on for dear life. Now the van turned and was headed straight for...

"Jazz!?" Jack shouted, "Out of the way!" he opened the door, leaned forward, and pulled Jazz into the van before she was run over.

"Thanks," she gasped for air. Back in the control room, the guy controlling the van was laughing his head off. He hit a CD, playing the music from _Jimmy Neutron_ where the nanobots were deleting everyone in Retroville, and started goofing around, chasing people, going around in circles, and hitting random buttons, activating many features of the van. Ectoplasmic missles were fired from behind the headlights, lasers popped up, the windshield wipers started going off...

"What the heck is wrong with this thing!?" Jazz shrieked.

"There are two logical explanations," Jack said, "One, the car is being controlled by someone via an interceptor to satellite transmissions," with that, he began to run a scan for foreign objects, "Two...Ghosts! Ghosts! **_GHOOOOOOSTS!_**" the van kept up its rampage around town, destroying two fire hydrants and crushing a parked car. Hitting another button, the guy controlling the van was now playing the music on the van's radio.

"Great," Jazz moaned, "We're in an out-of control van _and_ stuck listening to lame music!" it kept on going. Fortunately, while going under a low bridge, the satellite dish (and the interceptor with it) were knocked off. Jack switched over to normal car power, pulled out from under the bridge, and parked off at a street corner. Frost came out from the crowd of enraged townspeople.

"You see why I am the one to handle this!?" she said angrily.

"HA! I'm not so sure you weren't the one behind this!"

"What!?"

"Before it was removed, my scan showed The Fenton Van being controlled via an interceptor! You possess the technology for one, and we have evidence to show that _you_ were behind the kidnapping and robberies!"

"That's absurd!" the two looked ready to fight.

"Hold a second, just a minute, everybody calm down!" the mayor ran up, drawing applause from the crowd and indifference from Frost.

"Mr. Mayor?" Jack exclaimed, "How did you..."

"The ghost-boy with the fancy white hair freed me," he said, "he was not behind my kidnapping. Some people with fancy gadgets were. On the way out of the place I was held, I also found all my money! It was all done by humans!"

"But our evidence shows..." Frost began to say.

"The town is haunted, I admit," the mayor held his hand up to silence her, "but we'll see what happens at the hearing tomorrow. Good night, everybody," he skipped off to get his money back. By this time Maddie and Sam had headed over to the no longer angry crowd.

"Jack, what's going on?" Maddie asked.

"A long story, that I shall be happy to tell...wait a minute. Where's Danny?"

"Here!" he ran up, back to normal. It was painful, but he managed to pull off faking that he wasn't injured.

"Danny!" Jack greeted him, "Any sign of the ghost that helped the mayor?"

"Huh? Oh, well...not really. I..."

"Darn it! We'll have to try again tomorrow. Tomorrow is precisely October 31, Halloween!" (School had gotten off on the 28th.) Once Jack and Maddie had run off, Danny collapsed down on his knees and covered his wound to his ribs with his hand.

"You OK, Danny?" Sam asked.

"Fine," he moaned, "That ghost girl's pretty tough. I..." he looked around, "Sam?" she wasn't anywhere nearby. Danny shrugged, then grabbed his shoulder when he realised that was painful for his shoulder.

---

Sam was hiding in an alley as it started to snow. Despite the below freezing temperatures, she was sweating and breathing heavily.

"No," she whispered to herself, "You can't be her. I mean, where'd you get..." her headaches came back, worse than before. Blue ectoplasmic smoke came from her mouth and the injury to her foot. Her skin was getting more pale. She managed to fight it off this time. She got down on her knees and started sobbing quietly. She didn't know how, but she was the ghost girl that had attacked Danny just a few minutes ago.


	7. Revelations

"In the hearing of _Fenton v. Paranormalics_ this morning, the judge ruled in favour of his previous verdict; the abandoned Kane Manor belongs to Mr. Fenton, and what goes on there is his to say. Limited ghost-hunting licence was given to Paranormalics but not to the point of destroying the ghosts. Sarah Frost, the head of Paranormalics has proven gracious in defeat. Due to the damage done to parts of the mayor's home last night, Frost has agreed to host the town's annual Halloween Costume Ball at her own residence just outside the south end of town. Mr. Fenton has received an invitation and responded in the resoundingly positive. And now, the weather," Danny turned off the tape and turned to the video screen.

"Wow," Tucker smiled, "Looks like she's not that bad after all!"

"I'm sure she's up to something," Danny looked suspiciously at the T.V. since Frost wasn't there.

"You guys are actually going?"

"Yeah. My dad thinks that there'll be ghosts. He spent all night fixing the Fenton Van. My mom, Jazz and Sam took it down into town to help with the clean-up and to get their costumes. My dad's gonna go as..." Jack jumped downstairs in full ghost-hunting gear. He had the Ghost Gloves, Ghost-Tracking Goggles (only work when a ghost is invisible), a mini Fenton Weasel built into the gloves, a metal backpack, and his fishing vest.

"Well," Jack asked proudly, "You think the ghosts will buy this as a costume?"

"I'm positive, Dad," Danny said to humour him, "I'm positive."

"And what do you think, Tucker?"

"Great, Mr. Fenton," Tucker definitely did not want to be involved in this conversation.

"Now if I could only find the Fenton Fisher," Jack ran back upstairs, oblivious to the fact that the Fenton Fisher was right by Danny's computer. Danny shrugged and remembered too late that his shoulder still hurt.

"You OK?" Tucker asked.

"Fine," Danny said, "That ghost girl's pretty tough. I'll take the Fenton Fisher with me to the party just in case."

"Who are you going as?" Danny got a sly grin.

"You'll never guess."

---

Sam sat in the Fenton Van, using one of the computers to try and find out what was happening to her. After Volpe had attacked her, she had looked through the same files Danny had; ghost attacks. Nothing matched. Now she was looking under "Possessions and Transformations." She found something.

"Some ghosts have the power to fly into human beings and leave a 'seed' of themselves inside, causing the human to become a sort of hybrid between ghost and man. The side effects, however, make the ability not worth the risk. The human will at first be unable to know what is happening to them, and by the time they find out it is too late. In ghost form the human is emotionally unstable, seeking only to destroy the ghost that planted the seed inside them. The seed takes root alarmingly fast, soon taking over the body permanently. Some ghosts with this power lack the ability to control it, making it a truly deadly ability."

"Sam?" Jazz stuck her head in the van, "What are you doing? You have to pick a costume!"

"Huh? Oh, I already have one, so don't worry about me," she laughed weakly before looking back at the file, more nervous than ever. She seemed to get possessed only when Volpe was near, but the file didn't say anything concerning that. Nor did it say exactly how fast the "alarming rate" of the seed was. She'd have to worry about that later. If Volpe was anywhere near the party tonight...

---

Frost's home was a wonderful mansion, a remarkable surprise considering her personality. The decorations were an interesting mix of Halloween and Christmas, with Jack o' Lanterns serving as candles and mistletoe hanging from the ceiling. A chandelier with lights shaped like icicles hung from high above the living room, which had been cleared for the purpose of being a dance floor. Everyone was in costume, and all the costumes were loved. That changed at the arrival of one person.

"Look at that!" "Huh?" "How rude!" comments like that floated around as everyone turned to Danny, who was dressed dramatically as...Danny Fenton. He was wearing his dance clothes from "Parental Bonding," but many people had combined formal attire with their costumes. Danny ignored all the murmuring and looks he was getting. If everyone saw him (unknowlingly) as a ghost, then this was the costume they'd get.

"Excellent plan, son!" his dad ran up to him, "With the ghosts too busy staring at your lack of costume, they'll never notice your mother and I!"

"Yeah..." Danny humoured him, "Sure Dad. Good luck."

"Thank you, son," he ran off. After he left, ectoplasmic smoke came from Danny's mouth. He checked to make sure the Fenton Fisher was tucked into his inside jacket pocket before calling Sam via the walkie-talkies they agreed to carry when Sam left that morning.

"Sam?" Danny said into it, "Any sign of anything?"

"Not yet. You?"

"There's a ghost somewhere in here. Just don't know where," there was a pause, "Sam?"

"Nothing. Think it might be a good idea to lay low for a few minutes? I think there's a dance coming up."

"Sure, I'd love to. Where are you?"

"Upstairs. Be down in a minute," Danny turned it off.

"Ingenious costume," someone whispered into his ear. Danny just barely turned around fast enough to see a cloaked Frost walking away.

"Thanks," he replied sarcastically to no one. The next dance began, going to the song "Face to Face" from the movie _Batman Returns_. As the first bit of introductory music began, Danny saw Sam coming down the stairs, dressed dramatically as...Sam Manson. She was wearing her dress from "Parental Bonding," but not a costume. She was getting the same looks and comments that Danny had got and ignored them just the same. Danny didn't know her reason for not having a mask; probably her being unique again. They made their way over to each other, Danny not noticing Sam's slight limp. Their dance began as the first lyrics of the song began to fill the ears of those on the dance floor. Sam accidentally hit Danny's wound on his shoulder, causing him to grimace.

"Whoops! Sorry," she said quickly.

"No problem," Danny said, "Where's Jazz and my mom?"

"Your mom's upstairs in a ghost-catching suit looking for ghosts and your sister's dressed as a psychiatrist trying to convince everyone that your parents are just in costume."

"That's a surprise," Danny said sarcastically, "Don't think she'd be too happy if she knew I didn't have a costume."

---

Upstairs, Jazz was drinking punch when someone walked up behind her.

"Excuse me..." he started to say...

"For the last time, I am _not_ related to the girl without a costume!" Jazz yelled and then realised it wasn't they same person who had asked her that seven times.

"I just wanted to ask you to...wait. Do you also know that other kid without a costume?"

"What other kid?" Jazz looked downstairs and saw Danny and Sam dancing...and Danny without a costume.

"I'm gonna kill him for that," Jazz murmured.

---

"So what's the town like?" Danny asked Sam while they danced, "They still terrified of ghosts?"

"Not as much as if Frost had gotten away with last night," ectoplasmic smoke came from Danny's mouth again.

"Speaking of ghosts..." he turned his head to look around, "That's the second time my ghost powers have done that. There's a ghost somewhere around here, I just don't know..." Danny stopped talking. Ectoplasmic smoke had appeared again, but not from his mouth. It had passed by his face. He turned around to see the smoke just leaving Sam's mouth.

"S...Sam?" Danny could barely speak. He just stared at his best friend, never so confused in his life as he was right now. Sam looked like she was going to burst into tears over his finding out.

"The night Volpe attacked," she managed to sob out, "he accidentally...planted..." it was getting harder for her to talk, "a seed inside me..."

"A seed?" Danny was even more confused. They had moved closer together as the dance went on.

"It lives inside someone, and it only seeks to kill the ghost it came from," she was whispering right into his ear, "and if we can't get rid of it..."

"It'll take over you?" she nodded. They moved away from each other a little, still dancing and both confused and terrified. Danny wiped the tears from Sam's face. He looked down at her foot; the one he hurt. She moved her hand over where she had hit him in the ribs, accidentally causing him to grimace again.

"I'm sorry," she started crying again. They got closer.

"Me too," Danny whispered, "Let's go outside," as the haunting song ended, both made their way off the dance floor.

"GHOSTS!" they heard Jack yell, "GHOSTS! **_GHOOOOOOOSTS!_**" he ran downstairs, readying the Ghost Gloves and the Fenton Weasel.

"Volpe," Danny and Sam said together. Sam's headaches returned, worse than ever.

"I think you'd better go outside," Danny said to her, "Your going ghost isn't gonna slow down that seed."

"Right. Get him for me," she covered him as he went ghost and left the building. Going invisible (and avoiding his parents), Danny flew upstairs. Sure enough, Volpe was there, ready. Their fight was brief. Volpe kept pushing their fight down, going through the floor of the house and down to the network of tunnels Danny had discovered before. Once they were down to the level Danny was the other day, Volpe became vapour and disappeared. Danny was surrounded by armed Paranormalics agents. He got ready to fight, but shots from above and below (apparently there was another level) showed there was no escape.

"Move and you're dead," the major smirked. Having no choice, Danny raised his hands in surrender.


	8. Gone for Good?

Danny was cuffed with ghost handcuffs that were attached to a machine strapped to his chest. Even if he had tried to phase through or vaporise in an attempt to escape, it wouldn't have worked. With a laser shoved up against the back of his head, Danny was marched over to an elevator. They went up to Level 1. Here, tunnels were replaced by long, damp, old hallways and corridors, made of rock and with green lighting.

"Let's go," the major dragged Danny down one hallway to a room with ominous lights flickering out from it. He was thrown in, and the room locked. As the major left, he did not notice a vapour coming down from the ceiling, nor it's forming into a girl. Sam, halfway between her full ghost form and her normal self, examined the door. It blocked ghosts from entering. Before fully transforming and losing her sanity, she pulled out her phone and dialled the number of the Beachside Resort...

---

The room was filled with machinery, control panels, and a menacing looking chair. Danny slowly got up on his knees and noticed that someone else was in the room. Frost. She grabbed Danny by the neck and threw him into the chair, where the handcuffs and machine fell to the floor and he was strapped into the chair by the hands, feet, and head. Frost kicked the cuffs away. Danny looked around the room as much as he could. He just now noticed something...

"That generator," he eyed it suspiciously, "That's what Volpe was stealing the first night we were here."

"Amazing, how a simple distraction can give a person the wrong idea," Frost flipped a switch, throwing all the lights on the machinery on as Danny eyed the generator. No...it couldn't be!

"Volpe...works for you?" Frost smiled coldly.

"We had no plans to distract you so when you first arrived. Our plan was to set you up and get the rights back to that old place for use in operations. But after that first night, I felt we might be better off if we had a few more ghosts around. Besides, it was fun, watching you and your family wandering cluelessly through our little mystery."

"What're you using to control him?" Danny was now trying to escape the chair by physical human means, with no success. Frost laughed, both at his comment and at his attempt to get free.

"Nothing," she said, "He does it all from his own free will," Danny couldn't believe this.

"Friends while he was alive?" he asked.

"Lovers," she leaned against the machinery, "The air force was used as an excuse when I convinced him to build all this paranormal technology. The CIA was short on money, and I had state funds. When I became head of Paranormalics, I had him build this base for us. We delivered the technology to him, and he carved the tunnels to the base. When he died, he decided to continue working for us...for me."

"And I wonder who you picked as your guinea pig for all this stuff," everything was going downhill in Danny's mind. He'd been completely off-track in this whole thing. He was beaten, mentally.

"He volunteered," Frost nodded, "but you've become his replacement for this. Being half-human, though, you won't survive long enough for the big surprise of this evening. He'll do that without regret."

"What big surprise?"

"Your likelihood of escaping is virtually nil, but I won't take any chances. What am I, a typical cartoon villain who tells all their plans to the hero when she's caught him?" she pulled one of seven levers lined up on the side of the machinery. The lights started flashing. Electricity travelled around the room. And Danny felt pain like he'd never felt before surge through his body.

---

"Got it," Tucker was running down the hallways, "Good luck, Sam," he ran into his room and jumped by his computer. He began searching quickly for the frequency that Paranormalics relied on.

---

Frost had pulled the second lever. Danny had only been shocked twice, but he looked like he'd been under torture for years while sick with fever. The ectoplasmic surge had caused smoke to come from the wound in his shoulder again.

"Now I'm not even so sure that Sam's being taken over was an accident," he managed to cough out. Frost laughed.

"Five more levers, and you will die. That was an accident, but it worked so well to my advantage. Your little girlfriend will be taken care of soon."

"She's not my..." Frost pulled the third lever, preventing Danny from saying anything more. He felt like he was going to die of sheer pain. The wound on his ribs was open again, ectoplasmic smoke pouring from it. He looked even worse, with bits of electricity coming from his body.

"All this," he coughed again, "because you hate ghosts? You said you keep them from hurting people. I have to fight off ghosts all the time, but not all of them are nearly as bad as you...

"_You're lying!_" she threw down the fourth lever.

---

Tucker was frantically searching on his computer. He'd never attempted hacking into a government system before, and he wasn't even sure if he knew how to do it, but there was no time for self-doubt. He'd gotten into the security camera system; now he needed to find the room Danny was in. Kitchen...no. Weapons room...no. That next room he didn't even want to think about.

"Finally," Tucker found him. Danny was strapped to a chair, looking like he'd been sick with a fatal disease for months. A woman Tucker knew was Sarah Frost was standing by some machinery. Seven levers were in a row; she was just now pulling the fifth. Seeing what it did to Danny, Tucker pulled his eyes of the screen and slammed down at his keyboard, trying to get the machine's frequency...

---

Frost pulled the sixth lever. Danny's hair now looked dark grey. His eyes, though still green, no longer had a glow. His skin was much more pale, ectoplasmic smoke flying out of his wounds and now his mouth. He could barely speak.

"Last..." he spit out blue glowing fluid, "...one."

"Don't worry about your girlfriend," Frost fingered the last lever, "We'll put her out of her misery," Danny didn't even try to correct her about his and Sam's relationship. He just waited for the last shockwave...

---

"Hang on, pal!" Tucker hit the last code in before pressing Enter. The display on his screen over the image from the security camera: "FREQUENCY JAMMED."

---

Danny's confinements that kept him to his chair suddenly pulled back, letting him fall forward to the floor. He coughed up more of the liquid as he hit, slowly rising up on his knees. Frost stared in disbelief. How...? Danny was wondering that himself, but he didn't have time to think about it. Frost began digging around in her pocket, yanking out an ectoplasmic laser. Still weak, Danny managed to form an energy blast strong enough to disarm her before she could fire, but it took the last of his energy. He collapsed back, reverting to human form. In human form, some of the pain went away; the machines were meant for ghosts, not teens. Still, he was too weak to fight. Frost had re-gained her weapon, now holding it right between Danny's eyes.

"Slight delay," she said. Danny looked around. Her leg had been caught in a cable. Danny pretended to raise his hands...and pulled the cable, throwing Frost back into the mess of wires around the chair. He caught her weapon and used it to disarm the major, just barging in after seeing the mechanical failure on the security cameras. The major charged forward. Danny had enough strength to quickly duck and knock him out by hitting him on the back of the head. Frost, though, had caught his weapon, and now, caught in all the wires, was coming towards Danny. To help herself move forward, she grabbed the last lever.

"Wait!" Danny shouted, "Don't! That's..." too late. The room lit up with blue sparks before blowing up completely, knocking Danny and the major right through the wall and into the safety of the hallways. Coughing up normal smoke, Danny checked the major; he was still alive. Looking inside, he could vaguely see the broken machinery, but not Frost. It looked like she was gone for good...as horrible as she was, that wasn't the _best_ news Danny had heard. There was no time to worry about that. Having rested enough to go back into ghost form, Danny took over the major's body. He had to find the control room to see Frost's "big surprise." Above, on another level, Volpe had heard the noises. He didn't know what caused them. He kept working on Frost's "big surprise."


	9. The Gateway

Volpe grabbed two large tubes and plugged them into the generator of the machine, working at a hurried pace. He didn't know what had happened downstairs, but the machine had to be ready for Frost by midnight. The room in which it was kept was as tall as all seven levels of the base, all underground with a door leading out to Level 1 and a hatch above coming out to Level 7. It resembled a giant submarine reactor in some ways, with a network of tubes, pipes and wires making up a ladder to the short and narrow catwalks. They were so short and narrow because of the large, menacing-looking device in the centre of the room, running on the central generator that Volpe was working on. He'd been hard at work on it for Frost for a long time. Working on this machine at the beginning was how he died in the first place. He'd done nothing else ever since, refusing the chance to be put to rest and go into the ghost-zone. He stopped his work now at a strange noise coming from above. He looked up. Sam dropped down, completely transformed and bent on the destruction of Volpe (at least her possessed form was, anyway).

"You are really starting to annoy me," Volpe shook his head and prepared to fight.

----

Danny, in the major's body, ran down the corridors, desperately searching for the control room. He'd checked well over twenty-seven doors, everyone one of them proving not to lead to it. He had no way of knowing what Frost's "big surprise was," but he did feel like he was running out of time.

"C'mon," he muttered, checking another door; it wasn't the control room, "_Come on!_" he checked every door in the corridor and there was still no sign of it. To make matters worse, soldiers were coming, and Danny had no clue how procedures worked here.

"Wait a minute," he said, "If I can fly into people's bodies and control them, maybe I can..." he tried; "It works! I can also read their minds!" he hid from the soldiers anyway. After they had passed...

"Now to find that control room," he searched the major's mind, "Got it!" he ran down one hallway, then took a left. Using the major to get past the hand screening pad, he got into the control room, "That was easier than I expected," Danny muttered, "Now to..." he looked around. Save the floor, the room was nothing but chairs and computers, with everyone else out of the room checking the damage.

"I really hope this guy knows how to work this stuff," Danny sighed.

----

Fighting in the room holding Frost's "big surprise" was difficult on it's own with the lack of space, even for a ghost; when you have a ghost and a possessed ghost girl who's emotionally unstable, it goes from bad to worse. Volpe found himself both fighting the girl he had accidentally infected with a ghost seed and trying to keep her from destroying the equipment in her attempts to kill him.

"Stop that you idiot!" he kicked Sam away from the pipes, "If this room explodes you die and take the mansion above us with you!"

"_Volpe! Die!_" she struck back with the same energy blasts she used on Danny. Since Volpe was a true ghost, he was more immune, but they still packed quite a punch. He was knocked back, almost hitting RELEASE on a small container he had been entrusted with.

"If I'd just killed her and let that be the end of it that first night!" he muttered, grabbing a laser from behind him. He hadn't thought that he would need it, but Frost gave it to him just in case. Sam moved to dodge the blast but got slightly hit in the elbow, causing her to yelp and pull back. Examining her wound, she snarled and leapt forward, almost breaking a pipe. Volpe charged forward as well, flinging his own energy blasts at her (careful to take aim, of course). The battle intensified, putting the room and the still-crowded mansion at risk...

---

Danny searched through the computer, still in the major's body in case he needed any information. Apparently Frost had kept what this thing was to herself and Volpe, so he had more to do than just find it.

"Here we go," Danny found the file on it, "The Gateway. Designed for the complete elimination of paranormal beings within a 30-mile radius, substantial decrease of power allows for individual destruction. Opens gateway into the dimension between the Earth and the ghost-zone where matter cannot exist and...is instantly eliminated from existence. Designed not to take in any human," Danny just stared at the screen in disbelief. Frost was seriously screwed up. He blinked and shook his head. He knew what it was; now he needed to find out where it was. He checked the security cameras, looking at the blueprint to see what the thing looked like. He found it...and saw Volpe and Sam's duel.

"Oh, no," Danny checked the blueprints; if they damaged that stuff, the room and the mansion would blow. The blueprint also showed that the walls were designed to prevent him from phasing into the room.

"Wait a minute," Danny got an idea. He grabbed the microphone, "Attention all units! Report to Room 297 on Level 1 immediately. I'll meet you down there," he got out of the chair and ran downstairs. He met up with a small unit of troops who followed him to outside the door. One of the lieutenants saluted.

"The door's locked, sir," he said.

"Get a code-cracker, get this door open!" Danny shouted at the top of his lungs; if he was in this major's body and saving all the ghosts within a 30- mile radius, he might as well have some fun doing it. The device was placed on top of the keyboard beside the door, with a tube leading from it to another device on the handle. After a minute's silence save the ticking sound of the devices, the code was cracked.

"I want all you men to spread out except the unit that came in with me; you men go check on Frost," the explosion had been heard around the building, "The rest of you, search this place from top to bottom. There is a ghost in here, and I want it caught, alive! Move out! You, leave your weapon here with me," one of the men tossed Danny his laser. After they had all left, Danny left the major's body and knocked him out by hitting him on the back of the head with the laser. Moving him off to the side in case there was an explosion, Danny slowly opened the door an entered. He started climbing up to the second-to-last catwalk, where Volpe and Sam were. Volpe seemed extremely tired and stressed; having to do two things at once, both of which involved fighting, was really wearing him out. Sam just looked completely insane. She fired another blast at Volpe, knocking him onto the ceiling and apparently unconscious. Before she could attack again, Sam was kicked down to the floor. Danny flew down, but didn't prepare to fight.

"Sam," he said, "I know you're still in there. You have to calm down," he spoke calmly and slowly walked forward; Sam was tense and looked ready to rip his arms off.

"Sam..." his voice was soothing, calming Sam down slightly, "You can't let yourself get taken over. You're always the one person we can count on when Tucker and I mess up everything," inside, the real Sam laughed at this. The possessed Sam was becoming more and more relaxed and sad-looking.

"I wasn't possessed by a ghost, I was transformed," Danny said, "But I think I can still help you," Sam got tense again as he started to walk toward her, "Sam, please," he stopped. He looked down at himself, then up at Sam. He changed back to his normal form. Still panting, Sam slowly loosened up. Danny put a hand on her shoulder as she slowly went back to normal...it never finished. An ectoplasmic energy blast knocked her back against the wall, knocking her out and changing her back immediately. Danny whirled around; Volpe was ready to continue the fight. Going ghost, Danny took over for Sam.


	10. Tragic Irony, or Poetic Justice?

Danny and Volpe began their fight, but both took special care to avoid wrecking the equipment. Despite having been worn down by Sam, Volpe was still fuelled enough to put up a good fight against Danny, who, having just gotten into the room, was not used to the confined space. Now Volpe had him by the neck.

"You're committing suicide just 'cause you and Frost dated while you were alive!?" Danny coughed out, trying to pry Volpe's hands off his throat.

"So you found that out, did you!?" Volpe smirked, "You forget, I'm a full ghost; I'm already dead!" Danny blasted Volpe in the face and ducked off to the side, but Volpe got his wind back fast. He kicked Danny back against the wall...and accidentally caused him to hit RELEASE on the container in the room. Out from it came...

"I am The Box Ghost!" the little nimrod started trying to act scary, "Child!" he shouted at Danny, "You and I have been enemies before! But seeing as you have released me, I shall now use my power over all thing cardboard, square, and container in use, to take my corrugated cardboard vengeance upon they who imprisoned me!" he prepared to fight with Volpe before looking around; there wasn't a single scrap of cardboard in the whole room.

"Uh..." The Box Ghost thought for a minute, "Beware!" he tried to phase out of the room, but the walls were designed to keep ghosts both out _and_ in. He hit the floor.

"Crud," Danny said. At that moment, both heard the sounds of the door opening. It slowly slid open by itself, revealing the form of the one who had opened it. Sarah Frost; or rather, her ghost; was standing there, smiling evilly. Distracted for a brief second by The Box Ghost running out, she looked up at Danny.

"Double crud," he muttered. Volpe just stared in disbelief at Frost.

"Sarah..." he whispered, clearly astonished, "Sarah, what happened to..." he saw how she was looking at Danny; he shot an evil glare at him as well.

"Triple crud," Danny sighed, "This has been anything _but_ a vacation," he got ready to fight both of them. Frost was far more vicious than Volpe, still careful to avoid destroying anything but merciless in her assault. Volpe seemed to be more fuelled by rage now himself. Danny could handle Volpe, but he could barely keep up with Frost. She had the same types of energy blasts as Sam and one of them singed Danny's right leg. He looked around after that. No sign of Volpe. That changed after he was grabbed from behind. Volpe had him in a full nelson, keeping him from getting away from Frost's attacks. In under 30 seconds, Danny could barely breathe and was coughing up blue glowing liquid. Volpe threw him up into the space between two (strong) pipes. Danny collapsed down on the third catwalk. He didn't even have time to get all the way up on his knees. Frost hit him with another energy blast (this time the kind Danny had) in the back. He couldn't really tell what she did next; he was smacked around before landing up on the fourth catwalk. He looked up, coughing. Frost had an energy blast charged up, grinning evilly and ready to fire. Danny could tell this was not an ordinary ectoplasmic energy blast. But he also noticed a cardboard box floating over Frost's head. It slammed down on her, getting stuck around her waist. It didn't hurt her, but she was confused.

"A-HA!" The Box Ghost had two boxes floating over his hands, "Now that I have located some cardboard, square containers, I, The Box Ghost, will have my corrugated cardboard vengeance in...uh, what's the word?"

"Ernst?" Danny suggested.

"Full?" Volpe commented.

"Ah!" The Box Ghost shouted, "I had it! But I forgot it when you started speaking!" he was talking to Volpe. He sent both boxes at Volpe; Volpe just phased through them. He looked at Frost in a way that showed he was asking permission for something.

"Take it outside," she said, "There's barely enough room in here for one fight," Volpe grinned menacingly down at The Box Ghost, and in a few seconds, both were outside. Danny could barely hear their fight through his own beating. Volpe quickly sent The Box Ghost flying upward, out of the base and towards the mansion.

"BEWARRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!" he shouted.

---

The Box Ghost flew through the mansion, still screaming "beware!" at the top of his lungs. Jack noticed him.

"Ghosts!" he turned on the Ghost Vacuum, sucking up punch, rugs, and somebody's mask. Now The Box Ghost crashed down to Earth...in the pile of empty cardboard boxes that once held all the decorations. He flew up, as goofy and ridiculous as ever.

"I am The Box Ghost!" he shouted, "I have power over all containers, cardboard and square! Now tremble, as you are buried under the weight of..." he read one of the box labels, "Halloween decorations from The Decoration Company, of Boston Massachusetts (the state's name he mispronounced). He began throwing boxes around as everyone deserted the building except Jack, who stood his ground.

"Bring it on, Box Ghost...or, whatever you called yourself, who cares!? BRING IT ON!" he got hit in the face with a box, but the Ghost Vacuum pulled the supports off the chandelier, sending it crashing down on The Box Ghost, who failed to notice it quick enough to phase through.

---

Danny was slammed against the side of the main part of The Gateway. He could barely open his eyes or see anymore. Smoke was coming out of his two old wounds again, he had at least 15 large bruises and 10 small cuts all over his body, and a trickle of blue glowing liquid was coming from his mouth. Frost was obviously enjoying every minute of this. She fired two more energy blasts into Danny, knocking him up on top of the machine. Almost unconscious, he slid off the side of the machine, landing on the computer that controlled The Gateway. His hand hit a lever, which caused the top of the machine to glow an eerie red. Frost eyed Volpe's invention first with curiosity, and then with growing fear. She was soon in a panic, trying desperately to escape the force pulling her to the red light. A laser had begun charging on the top of the machine. Falling to the floor, Danny noticed what was going on. He changed back to normal and took cover under some pipes near Sam, who still lay unconscious. Frost was screaming, kicking, and firing off energy blasts at random, trying to escape the grasp of The Gateway. The light began to fill the room, red electricity and lasers flying all over. The main laser was what Frost was heading into. She was pulled in, and began to change. She became more and more white, her flame-like hair slowly withering away. Her spirit began to dissolve into the laser, being pulled inside the sinister device. Still screaming, she continued to be pulled downwards, dissolving more and more. With a blinding flash of light and a loud electrical noise, it was over. The room settled back to normal. Danny slowly got up, still plenty weak. Wiping his mouth, he saw that the blue glowing liquid had turned red. He looked up where Frost had once been. Nothing. Going ghost again, Danny noticed Volpe in the doorway. He just stared in shock up at The Gateway. He hadn't been in the room when the device went off, but he had seen the red glow coming from it. Since he was the one who built the machine, he knew what it did. He just kept staring, not wanting to believe it. He turned to Danny, his gaze becoming filled with fury.

"You..." he spat out. Danny leaned against a pipe; he was too tired to fight anymore. Suddenly, Volpe let out a bloodthirsty scream, his mind completely overtaken by rage. He leapt at Danny knocking him around like a rag doll. He had no logic in his thought anymore; he barely managed to keep himself from tearing up the equipment and using it as a weapon against Danny. He kept beating Danny down with kicks and punches, throwing him into pipes, choking him and then throwing him around again. Danny couldn't even fight back. He could barely breathe or stay in ghost form. He just kept getting beaten down. As this was going on, Sam slowly began to come to. Through her half-open eyes she caught sight of Danny and Volpe. At the sight of Volpe, her headaches came back once more, more severe than ever. She started to change even before the pain came to her head.

"No..." she was desperate not to get possessed. She was fighting it the most she possibly could. She looked up again. Volpe had an energy blast powerful enough to kill charged up, and Danny wasn't able to move. With this sight, her desire to save her friend overtook Volpe's seed. She still transformed, but in a different way. Her skin remained the same colour and her hair went white. She fired her own energy blast at Volpe, knocking him to the side. She flew up, placing herself between Danny and Volpe to keep the ghost from attacking her best friend. Further enraged, Volpe flew straight into Sam's head. She threw her hands up to grab her head, trying to remove the pain. It was worse than the first time, and growing worse. She was sure her head would explode. Then, in a snap, Sam collapsed to the floor, normal. She coughed up a small, glowing blue seed.


	11. All's Well that Ends Well

Danny headed down to the floor as fast as he could in his condition. Sam was still alive. He noticed the seed had small roots that were twitching, trying to take root in something. He also noticed Volpe's laser weapon; he had dropped it while fighting Sam and hadn't noticed where it went.

"Ghost boy," Volpe hissed behind him; Danny didn't even look, "We aren't finished yet," Danny's breathing became heavier. He was too tired to try and do any fighting. He slowly began to raise his hands as if in surrender before quickly grabbing the laser and spinning around, firing a shot that went right through Volpe's side. The ghost yelped, leaping back and getting out of the way of the beam. Danny lowered it and started coughing again; he hoped that was enough to weaken Volpe enough to give him time to rest. It wasn't. Volpe was obviously disabled, but he was even more enraged than ever. Danny could just move away from Sam so he wouldn't hit her accidentally (dropping the laser in the process) before getting assaulted again. Volpe was mainly firing energy blasts repeatedly at his two old wounds, although several times he flew in and landed a kick in Danny's stomach. As the beating intensified, Sam slowly came to.

"Wha...what happened?" she looked around. She noticed the laser and the seed. Danny was on the floor, barely able to breathe. He could feel something trickling down his left arm; his white glove was beginning to be stained blue, although he couldn't see that. He couldn't open his eyes. Volpe smiled nastily and left Danny on the floor, heading over to The Gateway's computer. He began to program it to activate.

"For you, Sarah," he muttered under his breath. The red lights had started up again, but slower and running along the height of the machine. He was preparing it to destroy all ghosts within a 30-mile radius. Danny, The Box Ghost, himself...he didn't know who else. The device needed to be tested, and the major would take over afterwards.

"Busy?" he stopped at the sound of Sam's voice, slightly jerking his head off to the side. He slowly turned around. Sam had the laser pointed right between his eyes. Volpe just stared at the end of the laser for a second before slowly beginning to chuckle to himself.

"Go ahead," he threw another lever before Sam could stop him, "I'm already dead. In three minutes every ghost for 30 miles will cease to exist, and that includes your little boyfriend," Sam looked over at Danny, not bothering to correct Volpe on the nature of their relationship. She began to look around at the pipes.

"Don't get any ideas," Volpe laughed, "This room is destroyed, the mansion above us is destroyed, along with all the people you came in with," Sam looked closely at the computer; there was a small video monitor that wasn't on. She kicked the lever by it, reposition her weapon right at Volpe's head. It showed what was going on in the mansion through the security cameras. It was deserted. Jack had fallen out the window, and while getting dirt out of the Ghost Vacuum, had knocked The Box Ghost into town. Volpe also noticed the monitors. He looked up at Sam, slightly nervous. Sam smiled slyly.

"You'd kill yourself, and him," he motioned over to Danny without looking.

"I'm not doing anything," she nodded over to Danny. Volpe looked, but before he could see anything, a small green energy blast hit him in the face and knocked him back. The brief distraction was enough for Danny to recover enough power for that and to stand up, although he was still breathing heavily and barely able to stand. While Volpe still had the wind knocked out of him, Danny nodded up to the container that once held The Box Ghost; it was on the third catwalk. Sam understood. She tossed him the weapon and started climbing. Danny fired two shots near Volpe to keep him from noticing Sam. As Volpe charged forward, Danny fired three shots, one of them hitting Volpe in the forehead and causing him to spin backwards a bit, but he recovered. He seized Danny by the neck, slamming him back down to the floor.

"Well, what now, Ghost Boy!?" he hissed, "What's your plan?! You're supposed to stop me! How!?" he grinned wickedly.

"I...can't stop you," Danny managed to cough out, "But Sam, on the other hand," Volpe's attitude left him. He looked around, trying to find Sam. He saw her too late. She hit the CAPTURE button on the container, sucking Volpe in. She dropped it and jumped down to help her best friend.

"Danny!" she helped him sit up, "Are you OK?" she checked his pulse; he was breathing fine, at least.

"I am now," he laughed and coughed at the same time. Then it hit them.

"The Gateway!" they both shouted. They made their way over to the computer as fast as they could.

"You know how to shut this down, right?" Danny asked.

"No, do you?" Sam eyed the controls, "Where's Tucker when you need him!? Wait..." she pointed to the video screen, "The mansion's empty, and it was owned by Frost. If we hit the right pipes, we can blow this place up and still make it out through the mansion! There's a door at the top I came in through that goes out to Level 7. Frost's office is up there, and there's some files we can use to prove she did all this!"

"She wouldn't keep those in the control room?" Danny didn't get that; Sam just shrugged, "Alright. You take care of this room," he handed her the laser, "and I'll get the files," he was still exhausted, so he had to fly and phase his way up to Frost's office. Sam shot a couple small pipes and a large tube. Shooting the tube was a mistake, because when she shot that, a siren went off and a different display began flashing WARNING. She scrambled up the pipes.

---

Danny looked around the office. The files on The Gateway were on the desk.

"That was easy," he went back to normal, stuffed them in his other inside jacket pocket, and went ghost again. He turned to see Sam practically flying out of The Gateway room.

"Hit tube, flashing warning, no time!" she grabbed his hand and pulled him up to the door leading to the mansion. They ran as fast as they could to the nearest window since the door was too far off. They didn't have time to open it. The Gateway exploded, sending fire and smoke soaring through the mansion, which began to collapse on itself. The force of the explosion knocked Danny and Sam through the window, rolling through the lawn. Danny hit his head on a small rock, going back to normal. Both had been singed by the explosion.

"DANNY!" Maddie and Jack ran up; Jazz didn't run over, but she looked concerned.

"Son!" Jack grabbed Danny, "Say something to me boy! Do something! ANYTHING! **_DANNYYYYYYYYYY!?_**" Danny barely managed to pull the files out of his jacket. Jack looked over them, "Maddie, take a look at this!" his wife gasped.

"Danny, Sam! What in the world were you two thinking!?" Maddie shouted at them.

"We were going to get something to eat and found those...lying underneath the table?" Sam smiled weakly.

"But what about the explosion?"

"Probably Frost trying to cover it all up! We've got to get this to City Hall at once! Great work, son! I can't tell you how proud I am of you!" Jack and Maddie took off; Danny and Sam collapsed, completely exhausted.

---

"Mr. Bruce?" a Paranormalics soldier saluted the back of the desk, "We've just gotten word that Sarah Frost has been killed and her plans ruined."

"Sarah?" the voice tried to remain calm, but had some shock within it.

"I'm sorry sir. She asked to leave these with you," he left a floppy disk and several files on the desk.

"Very well. You may go," the soldier saluted again and headed out. Ken Bruce turned his chair around and looked down at the files. He didn't know who had done this to his parnter, but they would pay.

----

"The CIA took a blow yesterday when files revealed plans by Sarah Frost, the head of the CIA Department Paranormalics, showed that state funds had been misused, and inhumane inventions were being created. The files were discovered by Danny Fenton, son of ghost-hunter Jack Fenton who has been called 'a completely unstable lunatic' by his fellow members in The Society of Misunderstood Genius Scientists, particuarly by Dr. Wakeman. The new head of Paranormalics, former U.S. general Gary Conrad, expressed his apologies for the deception that was played. He's called for much-needed revisions to the guidelines for Paranormalics, favouring the monitoring of ghost activity rather than hunting and destroying them. Frost's body was found electrocuted in an underground base near her mansion (ghosts leave the body, but the body's still there). And now, the weather," Jack turned off the T.V. as the news report ended. All of their stuff was packed back up in the Fenton Van; the vacation was over. Jack, Danny, and Sam had stayed inside to watch the report; Danny looked fine, but he had a huge bandage over his side and shoulder and still had plenty of bruises.

"Once again, I cannot tell you how proud I am of you, Danny," Jack was beaming so much he seemed to glow, "You and Sam have done an honour to real ghost-hunters everywhere!" there was silence, "Well, time to go! I want everyone watching for ghosts on the way home! Except you two," he looked at Danny and Sam, "After last night you deserve a good long rest."

"Nah, we can stay awake," Danny said.

---

Danny and Sam were asleep and had been for the last 30 minutes. Sam was leaning against Danny's right shoulder. Jazz took a picture of them sleeping.

"They may just be best friends," she smiled, "but this moment is priceless," Jack smiled.

"Well, they put in a hard day's work every day of the vacation," he said, "They managed to overcome great obstacles and expose Frost for what she really was! They deserve a nice, long..."

"Truck!" Jack moved the van out of the way just in time.

"Sorry!"

**T**HE** E**ND


	12. Face to Face

This is the song that gave me the title, from the movie _Batman Returns_. I don't own it, or Batman, or Danny Phantom. It has nothing to do with the story other than it was played at Frost's party, but I like it, so here's the lyrics. I'd recommend you listen to the song on the film's soundtrack or the end credits. It's a good song. Haunting, but good.

---

_Face to Face  
My lovely foe  
Mouth to mouth  
Raining heavens blow  
Hand on Heart  
Tic-tac-toe  
Under the stars  
Naked as we flow  
  
Cheek to cheek  
The bitter sweet  
Commit your crime in your deadly time  
It's too divine  
I want to bend  
I want this bliss  
but something says I must resist  
  
Another life  
Another time  
We're Siamese twins  
Writing intertwined  
Face to Face  
No telling lies  
The masks they slide  
to reveal a new disguise  
  
You never can win  
It's the state I'm in  
This danger thrills  
And my conflict kills  
They say follow your heart  
Follow it through  
But how can you? When you're split in two  
  
And you'll never know  
You'll never know  
  
One more kiss  
Before we die  
Face to face  
And dream of flying  
Who are you? Who am I?  
Wind in wings  
Two angels falling  
  
To die like this  
With the last kiss  
It's falsehood's flame  
It's a crying shame  
Face to Face  
The passions breathe  
I hate to stay  
But then I hate to leave  
  
And you'll never know  
You'll never know  
You'll never know [repeat until end] _


	13. Revised Edition

About two months ago, I read over my trilogy again and found a lot of things I wasn't happy with. There were plot holes, inconsistencies, the battle sequences needed more decription, and the villain motivations needed to be clearer. I also wanted to update the trilogy to match the new episodes and what I read about "Public Enemies." So I've revised the entire trilogy, first on a few forums, and now here. Hope you like the changes.


End file.
